How Old

"So is this one of the loopholes for that secret of yours" Aero asked, propping his chin up with his hands.

Master smiled and that was evident enough that Master was restricted to talk about the secrets at all.

But that only applied to verbal speech. How about guiding them with questions? With his guide, Aero could rule out one by one the possibilities of the secrets until they came to the one ultimate truth.

And the Red knew about this. He had suspected Lady Memoria to be a figure of great importance especially when her records were almost as unknown.

What he knew now was that this powerful mysterious figure stood with his side. Then should he pursue her secrets or let them be as a favor from an ally?

Whatever Aero may decide, the other boy did not even consider such things. For him, this was as juicy as any other scandal news that he had heard.

"So you couldn't tell us the details of the secret but you could tell us that there is a secret? That does not sound fair." Clem put his hand on the table's edge, lowered his head and looked at Master with upturned eyes, "How about you tell us about them and we joined you in this secret keeping game, Master?"

'This boy really knows how to beg…' Master sighed in his mind.

"Sorry, but no can do," Master said nonchalantly.

While Clem was disheartened that his puppy eye charm that had always got him what he wanted from his chaperone failed to bewitch Master, Aero thought differently.

'No can do? Those that mean he is not willing to do it or what?'

Aero was trying to find some loophole that Master might have hinted at. Because of the restriction it is necessary to go in a roundabout way.

"No good, huh?" Clem sighed, already at his wits end.

Master and Aero exchanged a glance and both of them gave a knowing smile.

'Seems like body language is still in the safe area. In combination with my Gift I could filter the necessary body language related to the secret and those that aren't.'

For the first time in his life, Aero felt like his Gift was handy. It was a new experience for him. Using his Gift to uncover secrets of others.

Then what if his Gift were applied to other people. Sure, he could easily know if some were lying or not but he never came into an interrogation-like-situation this. Given the chance, he could extract more than what other people without his Gift can do.

Now, if he asked Master the right question, Master could hint the secrets with his answers and in addition, Aero could look at Master's body language too.

There was something he had wanted to confirm though…

"Master, how old exactly are you?" Aero asked.

In Aero's eyes, Master looked like someone a little bit older than him. His young appearance did not match his elderly demeanor. Not to mention that even Clem knew him.

'Is he just famous in the castle among the royalty or what? If he did then it leads to another question,' Aero's brain worked at full speed.

If all of the royalties knew him then the next question was; did they all call him Master. If they did then it explained Master high standing in society as even the Royals had to call him with an exalted name.

'If that is true, then who exactly is this Master? Who could possibly hold a position high enough that exceeds the Royals?'

From Aero's knowledge the supreme leaders of the society were the Royals. No matter if one was with the Royal faction or the Noble, most of the major decision making were held by the respective Royal families.

Also, Aero could not help but to notice certain key points from his conversation with Clem.

'Clem said that the Memoria Tree was hidden inside the Memoria Castle as they share the same master.'

That last word was nagging at him. The word 'master.'

Master also shared one other similarity with Lady Memoria.

'Both Master and Lady Memoria was not their true name…'

It only took a few seconds for Aero's to process all of that information and inference.

Master who was reading Aero's full throttle mind and Clem's confused one, smile wryly at both of them.

"Of course, as you have suspected I am more older than you think I am," Master started.

"The appearance you see now was the one with restrictions on it. In normal condition I could revert back to my original form but due certain circumstances yet another restriction was put on me," Master gave Aero a meaningful look. "You could say I am in a cooldown period."

Aero had a frown after he heard Master's explanation. He knew that the 'certain circumstances' Master was talking about may have involved Master's rescuing him from The Mine.

Like Master had said before to him in The Mine, there were still a lot of things that he did not know about the world. Aero was still a naïve frog in a well.

Then again he wanted to learn them slowly one by one as time went by. He decided to start with this one.

"So, exactly how old are you?" Aero asked again.

He wouldn't lie. He did feel guilty that Master was put on a restriction because of him. But since Master did not pursue the matter nor did he want Aero to pursue it, he decided to put the matter aside for now.

"What do you think?" Master asked back.

"In the early hundred?" Aero guessed.

"Nah, I'll bet on half a century," Clem replied. "He looks old like those ancient oaks in the Amazon."

Master gave them a teasing smile. "I'll leave it to your imagination then."

Just then, the creaking of the door was heard.

"I've returned, Master," Alfie announced his arrival.

"Quite on time, Alfie. I believe it is settled?" Master asked, changing the topic altogether.

"Yes, the message has been delivered. They are expected to return at the earliest two week from now," Alfie nodded as he went to Master's side to give his report.

"Good job. I'll be paying back your authority at a later time."

"Take your time Master. I did not use much of that authority. As long as I can resume my training, it is a good exchange on my part."

"Youngins. How good to be young…" Master said like a certified old man.

Aero and Clem gave him a look that said, "as expected of an old man."

"I think your training will start earlier than you think," Master said with a grin. "Do you really hate your current training that much? I'll have you know that if you become a king, the same thing is expected of you. The same goes for you, Brandy," Master addressed the attendants.

'I beg to differ, Master. Training a level 5 adventurer and a normal citizen is worlds apart,' Alfie commented in his head. Though he did not like his first task, he did not hate the Red boy at all. Still, he would like to resume 'a proper' training, once his mentor was back.

"I wouldn't be too eager if I were you," Master commented. Looked like Brandy had the same thought as Alfie. "You don't know how harsh the Crimson Rapier's training regime is. Heck, weren't you two beaten black and blue without even her even trying. I'll say her training would make you beg to be released of her mentoring," Master smiled.

Alfie and Brandy gulped hard at the same time. The memories of being played like a training doll had them traumatized. They still respected her as a mentor but they also feared her at the same time.

Since the first task they got was to look after the young master, they had this skewed perception that their mentor was a softie. Master had reminded them that it is not like their imagination at all.

"Why don't you ask Aero how she trained him," Master looked at Aero.

And so the other two retainers looked at him with wide eyes. They thought that the young prince was untrained and had no significant skills whatsoever.